Alice, The Girl Who Did Not Survive
by MichaelaZacharias
Summary: Short story. Inspirated by the movie I'M LEGEND not mine Soldiers find a girl and her story...


The soldier walked towards the body. Cautious, because the dark shadows were still dangerous. It was a girl, around the age of 16. Dried blood laid in a puddle around her head. In her right hand she held a gun. Suicide. The soldier understood very well. In this remote city, there was no hope for her after the Darkseekers had taken over. But still, he was touched by the girl. She wore a black dress, with jeans under it. Her brown wavy hair covered most of her face. He was surprised none of the Darkseekers had touched her. Perhaps there was something human in them after all. Suddenly he noticed her left hand. She was holding a leather notebook. He knelt beside her.  
'She's dead, Carter,' his chief yelled at him.  
'She's holding something, sir,' he yelled back. Carter doubted for a second to take the notebook. But he thought the girl wanted to give it to them, or else she would not take it outside before she would kill herself. Right? Around him several other soldiers gathered, curious about the notebook.  
'Take it,' a soldier said, so Carter did. He gently laid the left hand on the ground and opened the notebook on the first page. The flexibility of her hand told them she was not dead long. He read it out loud.

_My name is Alice Michaela Irene Sophia McAdams. I am the only survivor in this town. Many people have died, or turned into a Darkseeker. No one is save in this town. No one will survive in this town. Everyone will die, or become a Darkseeker._

Carter stopped and looked at the date. _May 27th, 2010._ Alice must have experienced the plague from the beginning. Which mend she had lost everyone she held dear. Family. Friends. Neighbors. Everyone. He returned to the book, which he now saw, was more like a diary. The only thing Alice could use to tell someone her story.

_Ethan joined me a few weeks ago. Just like me, he is naturally immune. He told me he thought he was the only survivor in Kansas, until he found me. Perhaps there are even more. We hope there are, at least. To stay save, me made a list of rules. More a list of agreements. Rules and agreements, if you will.  
__1. Always stay together, never-ever go alone.  
__2. Never enter a dark building, stay in the sunlight or lock you.  
__3. Always be on your guard.  
__4. Work with the group, survive together or die alone.  
__5. Share the things we have left.  
__6. Always be honest ( ).  
__7. When you have been bitten, you leave.  
__8. Darkseekers are not human.  
__9. Only kill when there is no other solution.  
__10. Who ever falls behind, stays behind._

_Everyone who joins the group, must sing it. As a promise to be true to the group and the rules. If you don't sing it, the group cannot be sure you are no threat to them._

Under the list first stood the name of Alice, followed by Ethan's. But under theirs stood several other names. Which meant that others had joined them. Though, every name was crossed of as well. Except the names of Alice and Ethan. They apparently had lived together for a pretty long time. But they had lost so much, so many new friends. Carter counted the names. Without Alice and Ethan there were six names. Six people had died, or had been bitten. Or turned out not be immune. Carter looked at the rules and agreements. They were hard, but they were for the best of the others.  
'Read some of her journal,' one of the soldiers said. Carter let a few pages cross his fingers, than he stopped. Again, he read out loud.

_December 4th 2010,  
__After traveling around a bit, Ethan and I decided this was the safest place. The place where we have met. The place, where I grew up. Naomi died. Ben "accidentally" shot her. I can't blame him, I guess. Ben's nightmares are getting worse, we don't know what to do. If he yells any louder the Darkseekers will find us easily and everything will still be lost._

Again Carter skipped a few pages. Some many pages were written. Some were decorated with drawings. Drawings of Darkseekers, but also a young man. Probably Ethan. Carter smiled as he told it to the group around him. She must have had a crush on him. Finally he took a deep breath and began reading again.

_Augustus 4th 2011,  
__My sixteenth birthday. Happy birthday Alice! Hopefully you may live another day. Hopefully… Ethan thinks we have to move on again. He says the Darkseekers have found us. That they know where we are. Could they? I always heard they were not human anymore, we even said it in our rules. But I begin to doubt that. What if they're still human, only different? More aggressive? Some sort of vampires? Not like those stupid Twilight vampires, of course. More like the Blade kind of vampires. They scare the shit out of me. But on the other hand…they can't help it they're like that, right? All though, no one forced them to take the 'cure'. Ha, the cure. Greatest discovery after penicillin, they said.  
__Anyway, our food is also getting less and less. Strange though. I thought that now we lost Ben and Kyle we should have had enough for five persons. Guess I was wrong.  
__I'm in doubt, I don't know what to do. Kim is_

'Who's Kim?' one of the soldiers asked, interrupting Carter.  
'Uhm,' he said and searched on the pages pervious pages, 'Kim is a little girl. Seven years old, they found her in a basement.'  
'Poor girl,' the soldier said, who asked Carter the question, 'Go on.'

_Kim is so vulnerable. So young. She has no idea what is happening! I cannot allow her to suffer this much. I have to do something. I will do something.*_

At the bottom of the page stood the same star with an other date: _September 18th, 2011._ Carter swiftly found it and read it. He read it again. He could not believe it. Again, he read it.  
'What is it?' a soldier said. Carter read out loud.

_September 18th, 2011,  
__Today I shot Kim. I had to. She could not keep living like this. She made to much noise and became a danger to all of us. Besides: what was there to live for, for her? No one is ever going to find her or us. And we are not going to find anyone else.  
__Which brings our number down to three. Even though I don't think Sam will hold out any longer. He barely sleeps and always keeps on the light. Like he is afraid that the Darkseekers will come whenever it is dark. Even here, in our hiding place. But I don't blame him. I keep having nightmares too. And the darkness…it looks like every night the dark is getting darker. Ethan said he heard a man on the radio. Robert Neville, I believe he said his name was. He's in New York, and said he could provide food, safety and shelter. But I don't know how we should ever get there! We cannot leave this town. It's the only save place we have left. If we leave this place again, we won't find it back and we will die for sure._

'How did she come like this?' suddenly a soldier left of Carter asked.  
'I don't know,' Carter said and looked for the last page. It was over three quarter of the notebook. But after he read the first line, tears filled his eyes. He rubbed his hand over his face and read the date again.  
'Shit,' he hissed.  
'What?' several soldiers asked.  
'The date is November 23, 2012,' he said, looking up.  
'That's two days ago,' someone said.  
'Shit,' another one hissed.

_November 23th, 2012,  
__Ethan left. He is not going back. I saw him. We had a fight. We were the only ones left and we had a fight. Can you believe it?! He wanted to go to New York, but I said we had to stay. So he left. Fool. The Darkseekers followed him and took him. He's one of them.  
__I cannot go on like this. Now that Ethan is gone, there is nothing for me to life for. Not that I was so much alive still. But still, there is no way I can survive alone. And after so much time, I'm sure there is no one else left here. It has to end. I will make it end._

_Dear reader,  
__I hope you understand. I pray you are not alone, for this city is overtaken by Darkseekers. My blood is pure and save. So please, use it! Please look for other survivors, because I may have missed them. Please also check on Robert Neville in New York. He might have other people at his house. Perhaps, New York is saver.  
__Please take my blood and use it, if you can. Burn my city down, so the Darkseekers will die. It's the best thing to do.  
__The gun I used only contains one bullet. When I found it, it had four bullets. Three I used for Ethan, so one was left for me. I just knew it._

'Three I used for Ethan?' Carter repeated.  
'She shot him,' a soldier said amazed.  
'If she shot him, he has to be around here,' Carter said, when he saw a pen lying on the ground nearby. Probably the pen of Alice.  
'Read on, we'll search for him later,' the soldier said.

_My name is Alice Michaela Irene Sophia McAdams. I am the only survivor in this town. Many people have died, or turned into a Darkseeker. No one is save in this town. No one will survive in this town. Everyone will die, or become a Darkseeker. My blood is good, use it to do good. Please do not leave my body here for the Darkseekers._

_May God save what's left of the world,_

_Alice_

'Alice,' Carted repeated, to close it. He looked at the girl. She had been so brave. She had tried to hard. But she could not hold on. Which was very logical. He laid his hand on her head.  
'Rest in peace, Alice,' he said.  
'Amen,' several soldiers murmured.  
'We'll take her,' Carter's chief said after a moment of silence.  
'Yes, sir,' Carter said. He handed the notebook to a soldier next to him and lifted the girl. She was very light. They probably did run out of food. Her eyes were still open. She had looked into the world when she left it. Brave. Carter carried her to the Black Hawk, which they used to travel. Suddenly, behind some rocks he saw a body. A Darkseeker. When Carter stopped and took a better look at the face, he recognized it from the drawings.  
'Ethan,' he said. He was right.  
'Three bullets,' a soldier confirmed who took a closer look. Carter looked at the girl. She had been brave. She would rest now. She deserved it, after all the things she had been through.  
"Let's go to New York, boys!" the commander said. He would no be too late again. 

* * *

UPDATED 12-10-2014 ,, just some minor adjustments  
Let me know what you think!


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